Duncan Kirkland McRae

(1820 - 1888)
Home State: North Carolina
Command Billet: Commanding Regiment
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 5th North Carolina Infantry

see his Battle Report

Before the Antietam Campaign:
He had attended the University of North Carolina and William & Mary College (Va). He was U.S. District Attorney for North Carolina from 1843-50, was the US Consul-General in Paris from 1853 until 1858, and ran unsuccessfully for Governor of his state in 1858 (defeated by John W. Ellis). He was appointed Colonel of the Fifth NC Infantry by Governor Ellis when that Regiment organized on 8 May 1861.

In the Antietam Campaign:
He assumed Brigade command on South Mountain as senior Colonel present after General Garland's death. He was wounded at Sharpsburg on 17 September, but remained with his command.

The remainder of the War:
He resigned his commission on 2 November 1862 - on health grounds - and returned to North Carolina. He was then a purchasing agent for the State in Europe, and ran a newspaper in Raleigh from 1864 to the end of the War.

After the War:
He was a lawyer in Wilmington, NC, Illinois, and lastly Brooklyn, New York.

References, Sources, and other notes:
Some career details from the John McRae Papers, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; abstract online. Service history from Moore's Roster1 and Colonels2. His photo is from Clark 3.

Birth Date: 08/16/1820    Place of Birth: Fayetteville, NC
College: Universtiry of North Carolina
Death Date: 02/12/1888    Death Place: Brooklyn, NY    Burial Place: Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City, NY

Notes

1 Moore, John Wheeler (compiler), and State of North Carolina, Roster of North Carolina Troops in the War Between the States, 4 volumes, Raleigh: Ashe & Gatling, State Printers and Publishers, 1882, Vol. 1, pp. 156 [AotW citation 992]

2 Allardice, Bruce S., Confederate Colonels, Columbia (Mo): University of Missouri Press, 2008, pg. 271 [AotW citation 993]

3 Clark, Walter, editor, Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War, 1861-1865, 5 vols., Raleigh and Goldsboro (NC): E. M. Uzzell, Nash Brothers, printers, 1901, Vol. 1, pg. 281 [AotW citation 994]

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